Of toys and pencils…

Ever remember the old days? The days, when your parents bought you a new toy, which now only you owned in the neighborhood? Remember that joy, that pride? … … But then, this toy, just as the other ones, broke! … Remember those tears? The sadness of never being able to enjoy that very toy again ? The agony on seeing that very toy in someone else’s hands, and wishing your’s never broke ?

Remember that pencil, with which you aced your first math test? That pencil, which came with an eraser at the back? Remember the arguments with your friends about whose pencil was better at writing tests? … … But  then, you lost that pencil! It just vanished. You tried searching everywhere, but you never found it…

Cut back to the present…

Think of the way you feel excited about an awesome opportunity, the way your heart skips a beat when you see her… the way your heart pounds hard,  knowing that your long cherished dream will finally be realized! … … But then, the heart breaks! The opportunity slips, she waves at someone standing behind you… the dreams, too, shatter.
The sadness of knowing that this excellent opportunity will never come by again, the sadness of seeing her and wishing that things were different, the sadness of seeing a dream wither away, are all unparalleled. The pain of the wounds inflicted while gathering the shards of a broken heart is unbearable.

It is now you know, that things will never be the same.  A broken toy can be replaced, but a heart, once broken can never be mended.

Think about your  friends… The ones with whom you learn everything about life. The ones with whom you share the most craziest, funniest moments of your life… The ones whom you promise you’ll be friends forever with! … … But then, your paths diverge… You start drifting apart and before you know it, you lose them. They vanish! You look for them everywhere, but you never find them!

It is now you know, that things will never be the same. A lost pencil can be replaced, but a friend once lost, can never be…

Thus, sometimes, everyones heart wants to go back. Go back, to those carefree days… Those days, when broken toys and lost pencils, were more painful than broken hearts and lost friends…

Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock

Everyone is familiar with Rock-Paper-Scissors, a two-person game used to randomly select a person. Although, the original purpose was selection, it can be played as a fun game too.

Each “weapon” in this game is represented as follows :

Rock – a clenched fist.

Paper – an open hand, with all fingers joined together.

Scissors – Index and Middle finger held out in the shape of an open pair of scissors.

The rules of the game are very simple, too:

Rock crushes Scissors.  Scissors cuts Paper. Paper covers Rock.

Although, this game in itself is very fun, another variant which appeared in an episode of the TV show, The Big Bang Theory, is far more fun . The game is called Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock. Rock, Paper and Scissors are still represented as in the normal game. However, Lizard and Spock are represented as:

Lizard: Hand formed into a mouth like structure as with a puppet.

Spock: The customary Vulcan salute from Star Trek ( if you don’t know what I’m talking about, this game isn’t for you! )

The rules are somewhat complex. They go as follows:

Scissors cuts Paper. Paper covers Rock. Rock crushes Lizard.
Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes Scissors. Scissors decapitates Lizard.
Lizard eats Paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock vaporizes Rock.
Rock crushes Scissors.

This game was invented by the character Dr. Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory, since according to him, in the traditional Rock-Paper-Scissors game, two players familiar with each others playing styles, will tie. This happens due to the limited number of outcomes.

A small clipping from that episode :

The game does seem a bit complex, but is really great fun once you start playing…

PS : Most geeks would prefer to be Spock in the first round , so you can plan your first weapon accordingly…

Till next time,

Live Long and Prosper! \\.//

And so it happened to be…

15th June, and the scene was bad . It was placement season in college. Nvidia, the big one, had come to the campus. After a small presentation, most of which was same as the one they presented when they had come for a session on CUDA, we were told to settle ourselves in the auditorium for the first round of the process, an aptitude round. After, a bit of re-shuffling from our initial seats, I ended up in the very first row. Sigh, i said. The papers were distributed and off I started right away. I don’t remember how that hour and 15 minutes exactly passed, except for a few memories of me frantically looking at my watch and then struggling to calculate how much time was left . The test ended and I tried not to think about it, knowing the outcome wasn’t going to be… Then, finally the results were declared after 2 hours and there it was, I had not cleared the first round. . All the preparation in vain. Sadness. Sigh, and more sigh… But, after some great words of courage from my friends and a few sources I never imagined , I was determined to do well the next time.

18th June and I was relaxed. It was ThoughtWorks today, and I was ready! . After the customary presentation, we reshuffled for our seats. It was very crowded, since, Computer, IT, Electronics, E&TC and even MCA students were eligible and that too without any percentage criteria. After, getting out and in again into the auditorium, twice, I settled in a  very nice place . We, were then distributed booklets for a logic test. We were given 1 hour 15 minutes, and I ended up solving, checking and rechecking, twice, and still managed to submit by booklet 10 mins before the scheduled time. The break, was OK. Most of us were relaxed. And as I had expected, I had cleared the first round .

Next, was a group activity, wherein, the 75 of us, who cleared the first round, were divided into groups of 9 and were given a specific group activity. Our group got one where we had to design a pizza delivery system. Pretty cool. I kept talking, kept giving ideas, kept accepting useless ideas ( Yeah, have to do it sometimes ). Before I knew it, I was selected for the next round! Woohoo! .

Now, came the coding round. There were around 35-40 of us for this round. A simple problem was given and were simply told to get the output. Now, get meant, we had to get a wrong output for a completely legal input, since the test case said so! What was even weird was that the next batch, were given the corrected test case. Anyway, I did what they wanted. Time flew in this round. I had completely lost track of time. By the time I came out it was 10.30 pm!! Didn’t matter, I had cleared this round too, and now had a “Ticket” to visit ThoughtWorks premises for the next rounds.

19th June, 8.30 am and I wasn’t sleepy . 17 of us had made it through to this round. Since, all of us reached there well before time, we were given a small tour of the company premises and were told to relax in their lounge, named Ranthambore. Then, one by one each of us were called in for our interviews.  I was ushered into Kaziranga for my first interview. It was Chandan and Kuldeep who would be the ones to grill me. I already knew Chandan, since he was the one to judge me during the coding round. Both of them eased me into the interview and then grilled me for around an hour and 30-40 mins. Although, I wasn’t completely satisfied with my performance, I was called on 24th for the next interview …

23rd June and I was down with flu   We were informed that the interview had been postponed by a day. So, 25th it was going to be!

25th June and I cannot recall how I was feeling . 10 of us has made it till here. They got down to business right away. I was ushered into Bandipur. Tanmay and Umesh joined me and wasted no time. The interview went pretty good. Much better than I had expected. Happy with my performance, I came out of the room and joined the others, anxiously waiting for the results.

6 of us made it through and before we could even think about it, we were called in for the HR interview. The HR interview was a breeze and as soon as I was done and barely out, I was told to go to Corbett.

Here, Mayank, who was with the HR team joined me and told me : “You are everything that we are looking for… We have decided to select you!”

Joy! … 600 -> 75 -> 35 -> 17 -> 10 -> 6 …

… And so it happened that on 25th June, the day MJ died (sigh), I was chosen to be a ThoughtWorker. After 6 rounds (+1 small test at the end when I collected my offer letter, they don’t leave you easy ) and 2 weeks, that I was finally, REDEEMED!